 The succulent caroo boasts a very rich flora, with 69% of its plants found nowhere else. For three months of the year, tourists come from all around the world to witness the spectacular flower show in Namakwa land. However, for the rest of the year the region goes from this to this. The Global Bank City provides funding to Conservation South Africa Skeppes Programme which encourages alternative business initiatives that create employment and at the same time increase the local community's resilience to climate change. In Namakwa land the core economic activities are really focused on agriculture and around tourism so without a healthy environment here our local economy is going to be sustained. We have a lot of social issues due to the downscaling of mining companies and what people normally do is they go back to the old traditional way of farming on an already overgrace area. So by providing alternatives to retrench employees our message out there is that people need nature to thrive and that everybody can actually develop through nature conservation. Vera's guest house is an eco-friendly tourist destination which employs local plants in its main facilities. During the high season guests can choose to sleep in traditional grass huts that are built every year reproducing those that the local Nama people used to live in. The Kukskerem is an open place like a bauma which is built from bushes and we prepare our food inside the Kukskerem on a fire so we make traditional food in our Kukskerem. We constantly monitor any value way to projects that is for skippies and through this we are able to identify problems or difficulties that the projects might be facing and together we can tackle those difficulties and solve it so that they can become more sustainable. The skippies program is helping a lot because they give us some training about the climate change and they do mentoring on the project and they also help with funding. Vera's business is growing from strength to strength. In this area her success has really inspired people and she's actually grown her own competition as another guest house and several small catering companies have emerged to compete with her but also to take advantage of increased traffic through talent. Once a month Earl Muller collects used cooking oil from the hospitality industry turning it into cheaper and greener biodiesel at his biofuel plant in Concordia. We recycle used cooking oils from all over the region restaurants, takeaway shops. Previously the used cooking oils landed on wasteful sites where they contaminated the environment. Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel that's good for the environment and for humans. Biodiesel increases the fuel economy and power of diesel engines and lubricates better than regular diesel. Additionally the blend of 50% biodiesel and 50% petroleum diesel that Earl Muller uses emits 40% less carbon dioxide than regular diesel. It also reduces sulfur oxide emissions. It is non-flammable, non-toxic and biodegradable. As a member of a previously disadvantaged community we find it very difficult to get enough money to expand the business. I approached Caprice to help me to get the business up and running with a small grant fund. With the assistance of City's funding his production has increased from 10,000 to 35,000 litres per month. This business is providing a product that is in great demand for the community of Concordia as well as the surrounding communities. This has been used by farmers as well as businesses for the everyday use. Earl's project is a very good example of a project that has a really good conservation outcome. He is able to take a whole lot of waste cooking oil that would have been dumped into the natural environment and make a really good use of that, turning it into a marketable product, also producing a byproduct glycerine which can also be used for something productive. So he's got a really nice closed cycle in his production but he's also using his product then to reduce emissions which is reducing greenhouse gases in his own small way. The main aim is basically to demonstrate that small things can work and once we see that government is buying it, that big businesses is buying it and they amplify it then we will have a bigger impact. City's commitment to the Skeppes programme is absolutely crucial. So they really took a risk on the programme and we really appreciate that because as we've learned together I think we've built a very strong network of small businesses that are really aware of what the climate impacts and risks to those businesses are going to be. The work of Conservation South Africa in Remarkable Land provides people with access to training and empower them to become or adapt to the effects of climate change and we also provide them with alternatives to the traditional ways of earning a livelihood for example mining and farming and by supporting eco-friendly businesses we also ensure that people become more sensitive to biodiversity issues like natural conservation and therefore that will lead to a better future for all of us.